1. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online),
Volume 5, Issue 5, May (2014), pp. 33-39 © IAEME
33
ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS ONLINE ADVERTISING
AMONG STUDENTS AND YOUNG PROFESSIONALS: A STUDY
Nitin Srivastava, Sanatan Srivastava, Dr. Ajeet Kumar Rai*
School of Management Studies, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology,
Allahabad -211004 (U.P.), India,
*SSET, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences,
Allahabad -211007 (U.P.), India,
ABSTRACT
The digital age has already made significant changes to each of the elements of the promotion
mix. Companies increasingly see the Internet as an important medium through which advertising
messages can be directed towards consumers. In the 21st century, consumers have more control over
advertising exposure with web advertising because they can select how much commercial content
they wish to view. However, very little is known of consumer perception about Web advertising,
attitudes toward Web advertising or Web advertising associated with consumer behavior. The
purpose of this study is to determine the attitude and perception towards online advertisement among
students and young professionals. The study gives insights into their attitudes and perceptions
towards online promotions.
Keywords: Attitude, Consumer Perception, Online Advertising.
1. INTRODUCTION
On line advertising is similar to other forms of communication except for one critical
difference that is Internet. Consumer behaviour follows a model radically different from traditional
advertising media. This model can be explained as the progression 'Awareness - Interest - Desire -
Action'. All these activities occur simultaneously in Internet advertising. Online advertising entails,
placing of electronic messages on a web site or email platform which achieves the following
purpose-
• Generates awareness for the brand.
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2. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online),
Volume 5, Issue 5, May (2014), pp. 33-39 © IAEME
34
• Stimulates interest /preference for a product or service.
• Provides the means to contact the advertiser for information or to make a purchase
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the
expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers. Online ads are delivered
by an ad server. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads that appear on search engine
results pages, banner ads, in text ads, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, online classified
advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 WEB ADVERTISING
Kotler and Keller (2001) [1]
defined advertising as any paid form of non-personal presentation
and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor. Web advertisement consists of
impersonal commercial content paid by sponsors, designed for audiences, delivered by video, print
and audio. Further to its broad form it ranges from corporate logos, banners, pop-up message, email
messages and text-based hyperlinks to official web sites (Ducoffee 1996; Schlosser et al. 1999) [2]
.
The adoption curve for the Internet is quite steep, especially in comparison to other media
introduced in this century (radio, television, cable; Morgan Stanley Technology research cited in
Internet Advertising Bureau, 1997). Thus, as many have predicted, investment in internet advertising
is likely to escalate into the billions as we enter the next millennium (Cyberatlas, 1997) [3]
.
Briggs and Hallis (1997) [4]
and Gallagher (2001) believe web advertising is the least
effective media. However, Gaffney (2001) has a contrasting view on online advertising and indicates
that online advertising is considered effective in generating sales. O’ Connors and Galvin (2001)
support this view; they indicated that banner ads could build up brand awareness and perceptions
even though the users do not click on it. Schlosser (1999)[5]
added that generally people trusted the
commercial content of an internet advertisement more than that of an ordinary advertisement.
2.2 ATTITUDE TOWARDS ADVERTISING IN GENERAL
Lutz (1985) [6]
defined an attitude-toward-the-ad as a predisposition to respond in a favorable
or unfavorable manner to a particular advertising stimulus during a particular exposure or occasion.
Specific types of feelings can be generated by an ad such as upbeat feelings: amused, delighted,
playful, warm feelings, affectionate, hopeful, negative feelings, critical, defiant and offended.
Attitudinal components of attitude towards the advertisement comprise of a hedonism, interest and
utilitarianism.
Shavitt et al. (1998) [7]
informed that the propensity to dislike advertising might be changing
as consumers feel more entertained by the advertisement. James and Kover (1992) and Mehta(2000)
explained that reactions to advertising and the degree of persuasiveness are directly related to how
much consumers like to look at advertising such as entertainment and enjoyment value its
informational value as well as perceptions of how truthful or manipulative they are. The structure of
attitudes towards internet advertising is the same as attitudes towards advertising in general. It was
also informed that the consistency in attitudinal structure supports other findings that the traditional
assessments of advertising effectiveness such as information and entertainment value also apply to
internet advertising.
Rodgers described two studies with 106 student and 38 nonstudent participants that looked at
interactions between user motivation for using the Internet and the effectiveness of certain types of
banner ads, finding that for at least some users, “ads that complement the user’s motive may have
more success at being noticed and clicked on than ads that do not”,

3. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online),
Volume 5, Issue 5, May (2014), pp. 33-39 © IAEME
35
Lu et al (2005)[8]
suggested that perceived usefulness has an impact on attitude towards
online shopping. In a study conducted on online users in Thailand, Chiu et al (2005) concluded that
online stores are perceived as more user friendly to facilitate online store visits. The consumer
attitude towards online applications is influenced by perceived ease of use.
Perceived value of ads is influenced by a set of factors including entertainment, in
formativeness, irritation, credibility, interactivity, and privacy. These factors are underlying
information bases for cognitive and affective evaluations. Perceived value directly influences
attitude, which in turn determines a consumer’s future intention of using ads. Since entertainment
and irritation are emotion latent factors, they should directly influence attitude as the affective
information base. In addition, past behaviour of using the same or similar ads can have a direct
impact on future intention. The relationships among perceived value, attitude, intention and
behaviour are based on the theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behaviour. The model
provides guidance on what and how to collect empirically in order to answer the five questions.
FIGURE 1: MODEL OF CONSUMERS’ EVALUATION OF TARGETED DIGITAL ADS
Source: (Zhang, 2005) [9]
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
The rapid growth in number of internet users in India provides a bright prospect for e-
marketers. This rapid growth in the number of internet users has promoted a belief in many business
circles that the web represents a huge marketing opportunity Therefore, understanding how
consumers perceive benefits of online promotions is important from an organizational perspective.
The research attempts to identify the various consumer attitudes and perceptions towards online
advertisements.
3.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
• To identify consumer attitude and perception towards online advertising, among students and
young professionals
• To identify the factors that constitutes online purchasing behavior.
3.3 SAMPLING METHOD
The sampling procedure used was convenience sampling, as in questionnaire were
administered through different online platforms.

4. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online),
Volume 5, Issue 5, May (2014), pp. 33-39 © IAEME
36
3.4 TOOLS FOR DATA COLLECTION
Interaction with Respondents was done virtually through online platform with the help of
questionnaire. The questionnaire was made available to respondents through Google forms. The
questionnaire consisted of a set of questions, asked to the respondent for his/her response. The
questionnaire was structured and non-disguised. The questionnaire consisted of close-ended
questions.
3.5 DATA PROCESSING
Collected data was Analyzed and tabulated with the help of MS Excel and SPSS, further they
have been presented in form of tables and Graphs in this report.
4. DATA ANALYSIS & FINDINGS
4.1 INTERNET USAGE PATTERN
FIGURE 2: INTERNET USAGE PATTERN AMONG RESPONDENTS
Thus we can deduce that online advertisers have enough opportunity to target the internet
users. Therefore, companies must ensure that they effectively promote their products on the internet.
4.2 PURCHASED PRODUCT CATEGORY
Almost 90% of respondents make online purchases related to lifestyle products. Thus online
platforms provide a huge potential for marketers dealing in lifestyle related products.
FIGURE 3: PURCHASED PRODUCT CATEGORY BY RESPONDENTS

5. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online),
Volume 5, Issue 5, May (2014), pp. 33-39 © IAEME
37
4.3 TYPE OF ADVERTISEMENTS PREFERRED
FIGURE 4: TYPE OF ADVERTISEMENTS PREFERRED
From above graph it is quite clear that interactive advertisements are most influential.
4.4 ADVERTISING MEDIUM PREFERRED
From the graph we can see that Internet is the most preferred medium to receive
advertisements among respondents with more than three quarter respondents marking Internet as
preferred medium to receive advertisements.
FIGURE 5: ADVERTISING MEDIUM PREFERRED BY RESPONDENTS
4.5 NATURE OF ADVERTISEMENT PREFERRED
From the research we found that most respondents prefer advertisements which are creative.
Secondly, it must be funny, unique, informative or meaningful. Emotional, crazy and simple
advertisements are least preferred.

6. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online),
Volume 5, Issue 5, May (2014), pp. 33-39 © IAEME
38
FIGURE 6 NATURE OF ADVERTISEMENT PREFERRED BY RESPONDENTS
4.6 OCCUPATION V/S FREQUENCY OF CHECKING ONLINE ADVERTISEMENTS
From the above crosstab we can interpret that almost 80 % of the respondents check online
advertisements sometimes or the other. It is also seen that students check online advertisements more
frequently compared to employees of different organizations. Another interesting fact that came out
from this cross tabulation is that none of the respondents are able to completely isolate themselves
from checking online advertisements.
4.7 TIME SPENT USING INTERNET V/S PURCHASE FREQUENCY
From the survey it was deduced that there is not much correlation between the time spent
online by respondents and their purchase frequency. Whatever the amount of time spent online most
of the respondents make online purchases occasionally and around one quarter of the respondents
make online purchases every month. Another interesting deduction is that more than 95% of
respondents make online purchases.
4.8 FREQUENCY OF CHECKING ONLINE ADS V/S PURCHASE FREQUENCY
From the survey it was found that there is not any clear relationship between the frequency of
checking online ads and purchase frequency. Thus, the marketers must not only target people who
check online advertisements more frequently, as people who rarely check online advertisements
make almost equal purchases.
4.9 OCCUPATION V/S PURCHASE FREQUENCY
From the survey it was found online purchases are made occasionally by people of different
occupations. However very frequent online purchases (once a week or every fortnight) is done by
employees, this can be a result of their higher purchasing power.
5. CONCLUSION
From the study it is found that frequency of checking online ads does not directly affected a
purchase. However, online ads are effective as awareness or branding tool and also play a part in
reinforcing Web users’ purchase decisions. This study identified four factors which are significant
predictors of customer attitude and perception towards online advertising: positive purchase behavior
enhances updation about products, engaging & time saving, and annoying. Among the four factors
positive purchase behavior plays the most important role. Also respondents perceive online
advertisements enhances updation about a product as it explain features effectively, keeps updated

7. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online),
Volume 5, Issue 5, May (2014), pp. 33-39 © IAEME
39
about products and are more convincing. Both these factors are result of beauty of this technology
viz. the usage of visuals and information. Companies must exploit this feature of internet through the
usage of coloured pictures and images of the entire product. In addition to the visuals, online
promotions serve an excellent purpose in description of the entire product and service. Also it was
found that online advertisements are perceived to be engaging and time saving. Interactive online
advertisements are most preferred by respondents, it has distinguished the Internet advertising from
traditional mass media, as traditional way could only present one way communication from
advertiser to the audience. Finally, online advertisements were also perceived to be annoying. The
respondents believe time is wasted due to online advertisements and they want there must be a way
to block online advertisements. The reasons for their annoyance with advertising seem to be its
ubiquitous nature and its increasingly intrusive nature.
6. REFERENCES
[1] Kotler, P. & Keller. K.L. 2009. Marketing management 13th Ed, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
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[3] Cyberatlas (1997). Advertising. http://cyberatlas.com/ advertising.html.
[4] Briggs, R. and Hollis, N. (1997) Advertising on the web: is there response before click-
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[5] Schlosse, A.E., Shavitt, S. & Kanfer, A. 1999. Survey of the internet users’ attitudes towards
Internet advertising, Journal of Interactive Marketing 13(3): 34-54.
[6] Lutz, R. J. (1985). Affective and cognitive antecedents of attitude toward the ad: A
conceptual framework. In L.F. Alwitt & A.A. Mitchell (Eds.), Psychological Processes and
Advertising Effects: Theory, Research, and Application. Hillsboro, NJ: Erlbaum.
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[8] Lu H.P., Hsu C.L. and Hsu H.Y., 2005, An empirical study of the effect of Perceived Risk
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